Longtime Conservative's Run to Lead France Could Be a Challenge

PARIS—Alain Juppé, a prime minister under center-right French President Jacques Chirac and a senior minister during the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, said on Wednesday that he would seek to become president in 2017.

The 69-year-old mayor of Bordeaux, whose record includes sparking a prolonged nationwide strike in the mid-1990s and a conviction for corruption in 2004, said he would seek the nomination of France's main conservative...